Stay Informed!

Manufactured Housing Toolkit

I'M HOME toolkit

CFED and its partners have developed a set of tools to help advocates educate policymakers, allied organizations and the general public about how public policy can improve the lives and financial security of owners of manufactured housing.

The Manufactured Housing Toolkit includes Policy Briefs, Resource Guides, Sample Local Level Policies and Communications Tools. Policy Briefs are intended to be broadly disseminated and shared with policymakers and allies, while the Resource Guides include legislative analysis, examples of states where certain policies have been adopted, and other detailed information to help advocates in making the case for manufactured housing.  The Communications Tools include both concise messages to share with policymakers and community members, as well as tips for advocates in framing the discussion.

The framework for the Toolkit is the policy agenda, developed in collaboration with our policy partners and outlines specific policies that promote the asset-building opportunities of manufactured housing.

As this project matures, we will add additional tools as they are completed, as well as refine existing tools based on feedback from advocates in the field.  So please stay tuned, and contact us to share your experience using these tools.

Policy Briefs

Policy Briefs are short documents providing basic background on a particular issue. They are designed for use with external audiences, such as policymakers or allies.

• Protecting Fundamental Freedoms in Communities: Manufactured homes represent a pathway to affordable homeownership for millions of Americans, but their potential as a wealth-building vehicle remains tenuous in many states. Resident ownership of manufactured home communities is one strategy to help low-income homeowners build assets, but certain basic freedoms must be protected if homeowners are to purchase their communities. This tool provides background on policies that give residents stable land tenure and ensure that they can form resident associations and advocate for resident purchase opportunities.
• Promoting Resident Ownership of Communities: Across the country, manufactured home community closures are increasing. Yet only 18 states have policies that create opportunities for homeowners to purchase the land on which their homes sit. This tool provides background on resident ownership of manufactured home communities as a mechanism to preserve affordable housing and build assets.
• Financing Homes in Communities: Today's manufactured homes are permanent homes built to high quality standards. However, high-cost financing can create a roadblock for families seeking to build assets, because manufactured homes are often financed more like cars than homes.  This policy brief discusses ways to increase the availability of conventional financing for manufactured homes in land-lease communities.
• Titling Homes as Real Property: Manufactured homes are the largest source of unsubsidized, affordable housing in the United States. Although a modern manufactured home may be indistinguishable from a site-built home to many observers, a manufactured home is typically considered personal property, rather than real estate. This tool provides information on converting manufactured homes to real property and the link to increased security and asset-building potential for owners of manufactured housing.
  

Resource Guides

Resource Guides are longer documents that provide more detailed information to help advocates make the case for manufactured housing.

• Promoting Resident Ownership of Communities, Resource Guide with Appendix A on Model Law & Alternatives
  Updated October 2011
  This tool summarizes the case for resident ownership of manufactured home communities as a path to affordable housing preservation and asset building. The guide establishes key elements of strong policy and suggests model legislative language, as well as giving examples from states that have adopted purchase opportunity legislation.
  
  Appendix B: Summary of State Notice and Right of First Refusal Laws
  
  Appendix C: Compendium of Existing Laws that Foster Resident Ownership
• First Steps Toward a Resident Purchase Opportunity
  August 2011
  A state policy that ensures manufactured home community residents have an opportunity to bid when their communities are for sale gives them equal rights with other potential buyers. Sometimes, however, advocates are unable to secure a full-fledged purchase opportunity policy. Whether to push for a less-than-comprehensive purchase opportunity policy presents a dilemma for advocates. If state policymakers adopt one of the suggested “first steps,” they may feel that they have solved the problem and may be unwilling to revisit the issue. Similarly, advocates may choose not to mount a policy campaign for a “first step” policy since it does not guarantee residents the full opportunity to purchase their communities. But a multi-step approach can be effective if advocates have a multi-year strategy, and if they make it clear to policymakers that the “first step” policies they are proposing are only that – first steps. This policy guide presents “first steps” – steps that do not amount to a comprehensive purchase opportunity policy but that may help move the state toward such a policy.
• Accessing Public Resources for Homes and Communities
  September 2010
  Though manufactured home ownership is a popular, low cost alternative to site-built homes, homebuyers often struggle to find fair and affordable financing to purchase manufactured homes. When manufactured homes are titled as personal property rather than real estate or when homeowners place their homes in land-lease communities, they are at a distinct disadvantage to traditional homebuyers when seeking financing. This guide is designed to help consumers, nonprofit practitioners and advocates learn how to leverage public financing for the purchase, rehabilitation or refinancing of manufactured homes. The guide offers lists of public resources available for financing for individual homeowners who want to purchase or rehabilitate their manufactured homes and homeowner groups that want to purchase their communities; it describes program parameters to help advocates understand how to access various programs; and recommends programmatic changes that could improve the function of public programs for which manufactured housing is an eligible use.
• Conventional Mortgage Financing
  New June 2010
  Obstacles in obtaining conventional mortgage financing, unfortunately, create a huge roadblock for buyers of manufactured homes. In most cases, these homes – though as permanent as homes built on-site – are treated by lenders more like automobiles than homes, preventing owners from realizing the many benefits of homeownership.  This guide is a resource for policy makers, advocates and industry stakeholders interested in ways to expand the availability of better and less expensive conventional mortgage financing for buyers of manufactured homes, especially low- and moderate-income buyers. This guide lays out the different methods of titling manufactured housing and the implications for home financing; discusses manufactured housing finance; outlines challenges in accessing conventional mortgage financing for manufactured housing; and offers policy recommendations for increasing access to conventional mortgage financing for manufactured housing.
• Weatherization and Replacement Homes
  New February 2010
  Weatherization and home replacement programs offer ways to improve outdated manufactured homes, the lives of the families that live in them and the communities in which they are placed. However, there are obstacles that may prevent owners of older homes or homes in manufactured home communities from participating in these programs. Furthermore, replacement of older units with modern, energy-efficient manufactured homes is a relatively recent idea that has not been widely implemented. This guide addresses these challenges and helps to ensure that homeowners can enjoy the benefits of improving this significant stock of unsubsidized affordable housing for low-income Americans.
• Protecting Fundamental Freedoms in Communities
  Updated October 2010
  This guide is a resource for anyone interested in safeguarding the rights of homeowners in manufactured home communities through state policy. Although there is a broad array of consumer protections that can improve the life of manufactured home community residents, this reference specifically focuses on those protections that lay the groundwork for resident purchase transactions. It describes the growing crisis in closure of manufactured home communities, identifies the four types of homeownership protections that pave the way for asset-building in these communities, specifies key elements of strong policies and lists state precedents for policy adoption.
• Advocating at the Local Level
  Updated December 2009
  This guide is a resource for anyone interested in promoting the use of manufactured housing as an affordable housing and asset-building strategy through local policy. It examines areas of local policymaking that have potential impact and reviews a sampling of existing and proposed municipal and county ordinances and other policies.
  
  Sample Consolidated Plan, New York: Includes the language concerning manufactured housing used in the New York State Consolidated Plan for federal fiscal years 2011-2015.
• Titling Homes as Real Property
  Updated January 2009
  Manufactured homes are the largest source of unsubsidized, affordable housing in the United States. Although a modern manufactured home may be indistinguishable from a site-built home to many observers, a manufactured home is typically considered personal property, rather than real estate. This guide provides a state by state analysis of the current statutes in regards to property classification. Further, the guide features recommendations for strong policies for the conversion of manufactured homes to real property.

Sample Local Level Policies

• Snohomish County, WA: Select pages from Ordinance 07-029 that establish a mobile home park zone.
• Snohomish County, WA: Select pages from the 2008 Moratorium Ordinance 08-070.
• Eugene, OR: Ordinance 20387 concerning manufactured home community closures.
• West Valley City, UT: Manufactured Housing Ordinance in the West Valley Municipal Code.

Communications Tools

• Top 10 Truths: A short document designed to inform external audiences. In it, we share 10 facts to dispel stereotypes and raise awareness about manufactured housing as a high-quality and affordable homeownership option.